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Chapter Eight

 

“Maybe you’re being too hard on her.”

Taylor looked at his little brother as if he had just insisted the world were flat. “Too hard?” he asked, exasperated. “How am I being too hard?”

Zac pulled his mouth off to one side. “Well,” he said slowly, “she does have a point. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

Tay rolled his eyes. “She lied to our faces -”

“And you lied over the Internet. Is there really any difference?” Zac demanded. He paused, watching his brother carefully. At length, he added, “You like her, don’t you?”

“No, Zac, I -”

Zac cut him off. “No, Tay. You like her, else you wouldn’t be so mad about her lying,” he insisted. “And,” he added quietly, “you wouldn’t’ve kissed her.”

Taylor sat up rigidly. “I thought she was someone else,” he said stiffly.

Zac threw his hands up. “She’s the same girl that passed out in our front yard today. Tracy didn’t change. What we call her changed, but she’s still the same person.” He looked at his brother, silently willing him to understand.

Tay’s expression didn’t change.

____

Tracy awoke with a start. Her eyes popped open and she looked around feverishly; calming down only when her eyes landed on Isaac. She picked her head up from his lap and sat up.

Isaac’s brown eyes were inquisitive. “Bad dream?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No,” she told him. “Strange dream.” Tracy closed her eyes, mentally reviewing what she had seen in her mind. When she opened her eyes again, she saw that Isaac was still looking at her. “I think I might have figured some things out,” she said quietly. “And,” she added, “I have some things I need to tell you guys.”

Isaac nodded softly and turned toward the guys’ bedroom. “Tay, Zac. Come out here, please?”

A minute later, the two of them walked into the room and sat down on the couch. They both looked at their older brother intently.

“Um,” Isaac began, “Tracy said she had some things to tell us.”

“What?” Taylor grumbled.

Isaac shot him a warning glance. “Taylor,” he said through clenched teeth.

Tay glared at his brother. “What, Ike? She probably just thought up some other story to make us sorry for her again. Ally, Missy, Tracy - whoever she is.”

“Look,” Tracy snapped quickly. “‘Missy’ was a mistake. ‘Tracy’ really is me. But ‘Ally’ isn’t me. I never said she was.”

Taylor narrowed his eyes at her. “Then who is she?” he asked slowly, enunciating each word distinctly.

She took a deep breath. Glancing at Isaac momentarily, she said, “She’s my sister.”

 


 

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